October 2012 EdTech

Connection

ANTHONY SABA:

Managing cultural training at Hyundai 13

AT EdTech:

New captain at the helm

GLORI HINCK:

National award winner 5

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY

Welcome

to fall semester 2012

In this

edition EdTech inaugurates its fourth chair in 24 years.

Farewell to a pair of favorite professors.

EdTech student wins national Award.

EdTech professor wins NSF grant to study the freshman fizzle.

It is my sincere

pleasure to serve as

interim chair of Edu-

cational Technology

for the 2012-2013

academic year.

Although EdTech

is not my academic

discipline (I am a

biomechanist), I

have worked with the

past three chairs in my role as associate

dean for the College of Education for the

past nine years, and have a strong ap-

preciation and understanding of the de-

partment’s mission.

This is an exciting time for EdTech,

as we deal with a number of challenges:

implementing two new programs—the

Ed.D. in Educational Technology, and

the K-12 online teaching endorsement

for Idaho teachers; a 27% increase in

enrollment from fall 2011 to fall 2012;

and conducting searches to fill three

faculty lines—one a new line to support

the new doctoral program, and the

other two to replace faculty members

who served the department with dis-

tinction for many years—Connie

Wyzard and Lisa Dawley. Thankfully,

we have a dedicated, hard working,

competent faculty and staff to meet

these challenges and move us forward.

Boise State launches pioneering doc program.

Ross Vaughn Introducing (drum-roll, please) new faculty members!

EdTech research points to interesting correlations.

Hsu presents at app inventor summit.

10

3 4

5 6

7 8

9

11 New jobs and new opportunities 13

EdTech grad Anthony Saba is a training manager

for Hyundai in Korea. Follow his

journey from academic

to corporate teaching.

COVER

STORY

EdTech Connection Published three times a year

by the Department of Educational Technology at Boise State University.

Jerry Foster, editor & academic adviser

208-426-4008 jfoster@boisestate.edu

Hail, to the chief

Dr. Ross Vaughn named interim chair of EdTech

Ross Vaughn tried to retire two or

three years ago, but the rocking chair con-

tinues to elude him as College of Educa-

tion Dean Diane Boothe keeps coming up

with offers he can’t refuse.

For Vaughn, an associate dean since

2003, the latest offer was interim chair-

manship of the university’s

largest graduate department—

EdTech. He fills, he assumes

temporarily, the seat vacated

by EdTech Chair Kerry Rice.

Rice’s bids for a sabbatical

and a Fulbright scholarship

were both approved. She is off

to Nicolaus Copernicus Uni-

versity in Poland, where this

winter she will help education

faculty to incorporate emer-

gent technologies into teacher

education courses, including

how to teach effectively online. She plans

to be back in Boise next school year as a

faculty member.

Running a big department is noth-

ing new for Vaughn, who’s worked at

Boise State for 39 years. He coached

baseball for years and taught in the Kine-

siology Department and chaired that de-

partment between 1994 and 2003, when

he became associate dean of the College

of Education.

He earned his bachelor’s degree at

Chico State and his master’s and doctor-

ate at Washington State University. In his

time at Boise State, he earned College of

Education honors for outstanding service

and distinguished teaching.

Vaughn is an expert in university

budgeting and has previous experience in

managing self-support programs. EdTech

Associate Chair Chareen Snelson will

continue to manage admission and cur-

ricular affairs in the department.

From the dean’s perspective, the

choice for interim chair was an easy call

because Vaughn’s “expert leadership,

professionalism, integrity, competency,

and knowledge of the College of Educa-

tion are unsurpassed.”

Ross was also a

dynamic baseball

coach who never

stopped coaching,

but challenges

each of us to

excel every day.

Education Dean

Diane Boothe

Farewells

Two high profile professors resign from university life.

Dawley led EdTech

through critical period

Dr. Lisa Dawley, EdTech chair from 2006 to 2011, resigned her university posi-tion this summer to assume leadership of GoGo Labs, a private research and devel-opment think tank for exploring and advo-cating innovative new technology tools and applications in edu-cation.

When founding chair Carolyn Thorsen retired in 2005, Dawley as-sumed temporary de-partment leadership until the following August, when she was named chair. Under her guidance, the department continued to grow at substantial rates, becoming the largest graduate program at Boise State.

She encouraged EdTech professors to engage in new technologies, such as teach-ing and learning in virtual worlds, social network learning, and educational games. She co-created quest-based learning with instructor Chris Haskell.

Dawley served as a director of iNACOL, the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, and in the Dawley era EdTech became one of the nation’s largest trainers of K-12 online teachers .

She was a prolific presenter and writer, and her 2007 textbook, The Tools for Suc-cessful Online Teaching, became a top-seller for publisher IGI Global.

Before coming to Boise State, Dawley taught in southern California elementary schools and later at the University of Memphis and at Sonoma State University.

EdTech co-developer

Connie Wyzard retires

Dr. Connie Wyzard (Pollard) resigned this summer because of lingering health issues. She and Dr. Carolyn Thorsen worked side-by-side to establish the department—just the two of them at first—carrying full teaching

loads and serving on all of the major college and department com-mittees. She also designed and managed the un-dergraduate program, which serves about 700 pre-service teachers every year. In addition to teaching graduate

courses, Wyzard until recently managed the department’s adjunct instructors.

She won national awards in 1996 for ser-vice to adjudicated youth with disabilities and for work in alternative school networking. In 2005, Boise State students recognized Wyzard for her inspirational and impactful teaching.

Despite a full load of teaching and re-searching, Wyzard was also a prolific writer. She co-wrote three text books, plus five edi-tions of an introductory technology text book for pre-service teachers. In addition, she wrote several book chapters and numerous journal articles.

Wyzard was a reviewer for an interna-tional technology journal and also served on the editorial board for a national college text book publisher. She was also an indefatigable researcher and conference presenter.

She taught reading in Wyoming and Can-ada before earning her doctorate at the Uni-versity of Nebraska in 1990.

Lisa Dawley Connie Wyzard

National organization gives Student Recognition Award to EdTech’s own

Hinck, a 2010 graduate of Boise

State’s Master of Educational Technol-

ogy program, was already a qualified

chiropractic doctor when she started the

M.E.T. program, but she recognized

that she was not nearly as effec-

tive as a chiropractic educator.

The M.E.T. program gave her

the skills she needed, and her

employer recognized and re-

warded her developing exper-

tise with new professional op-

portunities by:

Tasking her with educating

and helping other faculty members, in

one-on-one and group sessions, to inte-

grate technology into their teaching,

Tasking her with leading (1) the de-

velopment of all online and hybrid com-

ponents of Northwestern Health Sci-

ences University’s new master’s program

in health sciences and (2) the transition

of undergraduate courses from place-

based to hybrid delivery systems,

Adopting her recommendation for

e-portfolios in the new Master of Health

Sciences program, which helped satisfy

the regional accreditation agency’s as-

sessment requirements, resulting in ac-

creditation for the program,

Allowing her to develop and teach

chiropractic courses online, which is re-

markable because chiropractic is a

hands-on practice. Her primary course,

Cervical and Thoracic Adjusting Tech-

niques, is a hybrid course, with the in-

structional component delivered online

and the hands-on labs on campus. The

course is delivered via Moodle, but also

uses SoftChalk and Camtasia for short

lectures and a YouTube channel to make

demonstrations conveniently available

day or night from anywhere with inter-

net service, and

Allowing her to create and co-

instruct a hybrid pharmacology course

at NHSU.

The National University Technology

Network is celebrating its 30th year as

an organization for college and univer-

sity distance education program direc-

tors.

Glori Hinck EdTech doctoral student Glori Hinck was honored on September 19

with the Student Recognition Award by the National University Technol-

ogy Network (NUTN) at its annual conference in Kansas City.

By Sherry Squires

Condensed from Update

By the time undergraduate engineering stu-

dents reach core engineering courses, it may be

too late to fix deficits in fundamental knowledge

of science and engineering, according to re-

search conducted by EdTech professor Dazhi

Yang and Engi-

neering profes-

sor Inanc Seno-

cak.

Yang and

Senocak have

been awarded a

$300,000 Na-

tional Science

Foundation

grant to identify

which concepts

are most likely to

cause engineering

students to stumble early on and to develop in-

novative instructional strategies to help to help

them learn. “Our goal is to help students have a

better mindset and clearer understanding of

math and science

concepts going into

the engineering

courses, particularly

those related to

thermo-fluid sci-

ences,” Yang said.

“It would be ideal to

start doing that at the elementary or middle

school level, but our efforts are focused on

catching it in the freshman year of college, be-

fore it’s too late.”

“A lot of research has been done on how to re-

pair misconceptions after students have already

developed them, and that approach has proven

to be only somewhat effective in helping stu-

dents,” Yang says. “We want to turn the re-

search around—instead of repairing misconcep-

tions, we want to

prevent them.”

Reviewers were keen

on Yang’s and Seno-

cak’s proposal be-

cause the results

could have broad

impacts on math

and physics educa-

tion.

Work in the

three-year grant be-

gins this fall with a

collaborative ap-

proach to identify which concepts most often

trip up students and to develop online tutorials

that frame and describe those concepts in dif-

ferent ways. Beginning next year, a test group

of students will

engage the tutori-

als as Yang moni-

tors their progress.

In the third year,

the research team

will analyze out-

comes and track student success. They also will

organize a workshop with middle school and

high school science teachers.

Saving engineering students

from the freshman fizzle

EdTech professor Dazhi Yang (right) with Engineering profes-sor and co-researcher Inanc Senocak.

The work exemplifies the modernization

of education in a digital age.

Martin Schimpf

provost & vice president for academic affairs

Meet EdTech’s first doctoral cohort

Lisa Berry Idaho

Dennis Large California

Molly Large California

Anthony Saba South Korea

Dwayne Ockel Colorado

Sarah Rich Indonesia

Jillian Wojcik Florida

The nation’s first online doctoral pro-gram in educational technology offered by a public university began at Boise State this semester with 18 students.

Seven students hail from western states, four from the Midwest, four from eastern states, and includes two U.S. edu-

cators working in international locations. The application process for EdTech’s doctor of education (Ed.D.) program is very competitive. Six of the new doc stu-dents studied in one of Boise State’s master’s programs in educational tech-nology.

Rebeca Befus Michigan

Steve Isaacs New Jersey

Tanya Windham Nebraska

Patty McGinnis Pennsylvania

Kellie Taylor Idaho

Mark Suter Ohio

Carl Lund Kansas

Kristin Oostra Idaho

Donna Ledford Georgia

Glori Hinck Minnesota

Carol Askin California

Tae Keun “John” Jeon is teaching EDTECH 506—Graphic Design for Learning—this semester.

In his full-time job, he trains Uni-versity of Wisconsin faculty in the ef-fective use of web 2.0 tools. He has quite a lot of experience in that arena, as well as instructional design, because he has worked at those tasks for five years while completing his master’s and doctorate at Utah State University. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in graphic design from Utah State.

Jeon now teaching 506: Graphic Arts for Learning

Kemp teaches Intro to EdTech

Jeremy Kemp is one of four Intro to EdTech instructors this fall. In his full-time job at San Jose State University, he teaches technology-related courses in the School of Library and Informa-tion Science.

Kemp earned his doctorate at Cali-fornia’s Fielding Graduate University, where his dissertation focused on im-mersive learning in virtual worlds. Prior to that, he did an impressive in-structional design and courseware de-velopment project in his Learning De-sign and Technology master’s program at Stanford.

Anthony Saba earned his M.E.T. while teaching at Hongik University in South Korea, and now, as an EdTech doctoral student, is teaching a section of Intro to EdTech this fall.

He joined Hyundai Motor Group earlier this year as project manager for developing and managing culture and diversity training.

Teaching at Boise State is a “fan-tastic experience” because he now sees a level of student dedication and per-sistence that he hadn’t noticed as a stu-dent.

Jeremy Kemp

Saba earned M.E.T. in Korea; now teaches 501 from Korea

John Jeon

Anthony Saba

Condensed from UPDATE

Boise State University

has been named a “military friend school”—again—by Victory Media, which honors the top 15 percent of col-leges, universities and trade schools that are doing the most to embrace America’s military service members, veterans, and families.

Boise State is also a part-ner with the Wyakin Warrior Foundation that provides scholarship, mentoring, training and networking for severely wounded or injured veterans who return to school, and offers VetSuccess on Campus, a collaborative program between the Veter-ans Administration and the university to provide student veterans with a direct link to the VA as they transition from their military experi-ence.

Boise State is one of only 22 campus sites nationally to offer VetSuccess.

Boise State noted for being a military-friendly university

Look for Boise State EdTech

at Virtual School Symposium

EdTech adviser Jerry Fos-

ter will attend iNACOL’s Vir-

tual School Symposium in New

Orleans Oct. 21-24. Boise State

EdTech was the first university

to support VSS, which is the

world’s premier K-12 online

and blended-learning confer-

ence. The Boise State EdTech

booth number is 709.

Recently published research by three Ed-

Tech faculty members—Andy Hung, Yu-

Chang Hsu, and Kerry Rice—reveals some

findings of interest to administrators of online

schools.

The

team, led by

Associate

Professor

Andy Hung,

used data

mining to

discover pat-

terns in the

records of

7,539 stu-

dents.

Here are some of their findings:

Students with higher engagement levels

usually had higher performance.

On average, highly engaged students were

twice as active in class as low-engaged stu-

dents.

Younger students who lived in larger cities

were more successful than those in smaller

cities and than older students.

Female students were more active than

male students in online discussions.

Female students had higher pass rates

than male students.

Overall, females significantly performed

better than male students, especially in the

following subject areas—English, social

studies, and electives in general.

Courses categorized as high-engaged and

high-performance might represent courses

with both effective design and effective

teaching because students were highly en-

gaged and achieved expected outcomes.

Those categorized as high-engaged and

low-performance might represent courses

with less effective course design because stu-

dents were un-

able to achieve

expected out-

comes despite

what appears

to be effective

implementa-

tion.

Most high-

engaged, high

performance

courses were

advanced level courses.

Entry level courses tended to have lower

performance, whether students were cate-

gorized as low-engaged or high-engaged.

This may speak more to course structure,

design, and support than to quality of in-

struction.

The reasons students enrolled in a course

may influence their engagement level and

performance. Student survey responses

indicated that students who retook courses

they had previously failed, tended to dem-

onstrate lower engagement and lower per-

formance. When students took courses un-

available in their schools, they were usu-

ally high-engaged and high performing.

Andy Hung

Hung, J.-L., Hsu, Y.-C., Rice, K.L. Integrating data

mining in program evaluation of K-12 online education.

Educational Technology & Society, 15(3), 27-41.

Successful students work twice as hard?

New research reveals some interesting implications

Yu-Chang Hsu Kerry Rice

Boise State EdTech pro-

fessor Yu-Chang Hsu pre-

sented preliminary findings

on the use of App Inventor

for graduate instruction this

summer at MIT’s App Inven-

tor Summit hosted by the

MIT Mobile Learning Center.

Hsu shared learning ac-

tivities that he used in last

year’s Mobile App Design

course, particularly the de-

sign tool, App Inventor.

Students in the course fol-

lowed tutorials and incorpo-

rated their own customiza-

tions into practice apps. As

Yu-Chang Hsu

the semester progressed,

most students increased the

complexity of customizations

without being prompted. Stu-

dents also created design pro-

posals for developing their

own apps, which served as

beta ideas for future projects.

Students also kept a de-

sign journal to reflect on their

own design thinking, inspira-

tion received from peers, and

their own experiences with

apps.

Students were positive

about their experiences in the

learning community and with

the design tool itself. They

noted that App Inventor fos-

tered critical thinking and

problem solving—and they

would have developed more

apps , if they’d had more time.

EdTech’s Hsu presents at App Inventor Summit

Lowenthal explains how to be known as a thought leader

EdTech instructional designer Patrick Lowenthal and Joni Dunlap of the University of Colorado

published an article this summer that advised faculty members how to be known as thought leaders.

Lowenthal and Posner built on an earlier article by Miriam Posner in The Chronicle of Higher

Education, suggesting that:

Academics wishing to be seen as thought leaders in their discipline need to be intentional about

how, when, and what shows up when someone uses a search engine like Google to search on their

name or area(s) of research.

If Google cannot find a faculty scholar’s work or the work of the scholar’s colleagues, department,

or institution, then it is essentially irrelevant — even nonexistent — because people will not find,

read, apply, or build on the work if they cannot locate it via a quick Google search.

Building a web presence is more than simply having a website and can make the difference in an

academic’s visibility to the desired audience, including opportunities for new projects and col-

laborations.

Lowenthal, P. R., & Dunlap, J. C. (2012, July/August). Intentional web presence: 10 SEO strategies every academic needs to know. EDUCAUSE Review Online. Find it at http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/intentional-web-presence-10-seo-strategies-every-academic-needs-know >.

New jobs . . . (and other cool happenings)

Bob Thompson joins UNLV TV

Susan Ferdon (2012) has a new job—and

new respect in her school district.

Just before flying to Boise for spring

graduation, she learned about a technology co-

ordinator position at a neighboring school dis-

trict. But first things first. She wanted to

graduate from the EdTech master’s program

with the Graduate Certificate in School Tech-

nology Coordination. When she got home, she

applied for the job and got it.

Then she took the exam for the state tech-

nology specialist endorsement and aced it, be

coming the only person—ever— in her new dis-

trict to earn the endorsement. While still in

her previous job, she was named Illinois music

teacher of the year.

Her sister, Linda Deneher (2012) of 29

Palms, California, went through the M.E.T.

program with Susan. Linda is volunteering as

an instructional designer and faculty trainer at

a local community college and continues to

substitute in her local school district. She also

tutors students privately, both face-to-face and

online.

Bob Thompson had a goal when he joined

the EdTech program—he wanted to work in

higher education.

He got a new job over the summer at the

University of Nevada-Las Vegas as manager of

post production and animation. He had been

working at ESPN.

EdTech grad aces Illinois

exam for tech coordinators

Why you won’t see EdTech’s newest instructor

EdTech graduate

Jodie Hale (2011) of

Pocatello, Idaho, is

believed to be the

first teacher to earn

the state’s new

online teacher en-

dorsement.

EdTech faculty member Kerry Rice was

instrumental in developing the new endorse-

ment and getting it approved.

Jodie Hale

Hale earns 1st online teacher endorsement

EdTech graduate

Kris Mesler (2011) has

been hired to teach the

department’s only un-

dergraduate course,

EDTECH 202, which is

not available to grad

students. More than

700 pre-service teach-

ers study in about 25

sections of the course

each year in both cam-

pus and online classrooms. Mesler taught in

faith-based junior high schools for a dozen

years before and during the time that she

studied in the M.E.T. program. She is a

graduate of Northwest Nazarene University in

Nampa, which is about 20 miles west of Boise.

Kris Mesler

Ted needs a few, good, part-time instructional designers “We are looking for instructional designers interested in working on a contractual basis, on special projects, for Anne Arundel Community College.” That’s the good news from EdTech student Ted Finch, elearning project manager for Anne Arundel Community College’s virtual campus in Maryland. He says he has a strong instructional design team, but anticipates that several new training projects for corporate clients will leave his staff stretched too thin. So, he’s asking instructional designers around the country to join a pool of talent that he can call on when the projects start rolling in. EdTech students and graduates interested in being considered for Finch’s contractor pool should send their resume and examples of work. Include files or links to online examples in your response, and be sure to indicate your role and responsibilities for each example that you share. Finch also mentioned that interested individuals should include an hourly rate requirement. Contact Finch as soon as possible at dtfinch@aacc.edu or at 410-777-7137.

Distance Learning Program Specialist—Northeastern University, Boston. Qualifications: Bachelor’s Degree required. Strong proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, especially Excel. Proven skill managing and reporting data, familiarity with online or hybrid education highly desirable. This person must be comfortable working with all levels within an institution and have keen attention to detail. https://neu.peopleadmin.com/postings/21316

Online Student Services Director—Odessa College, Odessa, Texas. This position will lead the development of online student services. https://jobs.odessa.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1348149826703

Activity Director/Online Learning Specialist—Odessa College, Odessa, Texas. https://jobs.odessa.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1348150189937

Instructional Designer—Frederick Community College, Frederick, MD. $48,891 to $53,780 per year . Minimum Requirements: Master's degree in Instructional Design, Distance Education, Curriculum and Instruction, Educa-tional Technology, or a related academic discipline. And two years of experience designing distance learning in-structional materials in higher education. Preferred quali-fications: Familiarity with the community college environ-ment, ability to generate basic text/graphic materials in HTML format, and experience with professional develop-ment of faculty. https://jobs.frederick.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/position/JobDetails_css.jsp?postingId=141803

Distance Learning Specialist—Community Colleges of Spokane, Spokane, Washington. $43,468 The incum-bent develops and delivers a multi-faceted training pro-gram to CCS faculty, students, and administrators to pro-mote the effective use of educational technology, includ-ing the use of the LMS—Angel and Canvas. http://agency.governmentjobs.com/ccspokane/default.cfm

Educational Technologist / Instructional Designer - National Department of eLearning—Hebrew Union Col-lege, New York. Duties: 1. Faculty Development, Training and Support, 2. eLearning Courses (Cross-campus, Hybrid/Blended, Enhanced and Online), 3. Managing, Supporting and Training for Learning Envi-ronments, 4. Project and Technical Support for Local Campus Us-ers, 5. Department Support, Supervision and Professional Development.

Instructional Designer—Southern Utah University, Ce-dar City, Utah. $50,500+ https://jobs.suu.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1348151808847

Instructional Designer—Black Hills State University, Spearfish, S.D. $45,000 to $50,000 https://yourfuture.sdbor.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1348152111195

Educational Technologist—University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. $55,000 - $65,000 Minimum qualifica-tions include a Master's degree in educational technol-ogy, instructional design, or directly related field. https://www.jobsatcu.com/applicants/jsp/shared/position/JobDetails_css.jsp

New Opportunities

Transformative technology

Saba changes the nature of teaching and learning in university & corporate classrooms

Anthony Saba’s office is in the left wing of Hyundai’s Mabuk training center in Yong-in City, about 45 minutes south Seoul. The Mabuk campus is the flagship of Hyundai's global training network. Courtesy of Hyundai.

By Jerry Foster for 80,000 employees worldwide.

Like a small rudder on a big ship, Saba

knows it will take time to turn the corporate

training practice from traditional didactic in-

structional methods, such as PowerPoint pres-

entations, videos, and quizzes, to more inter-

active teaching strategies because they are

more engaging, and the more educators and

trainers get learners engaged and involved in

their studies, the more they learn.

He’d like to leverage technology more ef-

fectively—webquests, for example, for workers

T echnology transformed EdTech grad

Anthony Saba’s teaching, and then

his career.

Now he hopes technology—and he—can

transform the way the world’s fifth-largest

automaker trains its employees.

Saba, originally from Staten Island, New

York, is a 2011 EdTech grad, who has taught

university English in Korea since 1998. Last

spring, he was recruited by Hyundai to create

and manage cultural and diversity training

from various countries. The collaborative na-

ture of webquests would give multi-national

groups of employees opportunities to work

together and compare cultural differences in

their working styles. This would be especially

useful for employees who will be sent over

seas to work on international assignments

with diverse groups of people.

Head winds

He’d like to use more technology-

supported problem-based learning, but that

process generally

takes time and

many of the train-

ing sessions are

scheduled only for a

couple of days.

Corporate and

national regulatory

issues are also chal-

lenging.

Educators are

innately sharers.

Researchers pub-

lish to share their

findings. Teachers

share lesson plans.

Universities share

administrative

practices and their

sports teams even

share game films. But just as sharing is part of

the culture of education, it is most definitely

not the culture of business. The two cultures

are diametrically opposite to the point that

sharing—even inadvertently—is anathema in

business. Innovations of design, production,

or distribution can create a competitive edge

by increasing sales or reducing expenses. Ei-

ther way, loss of proprietary information can

affect a company’s bottom line, which is why

Hyundai does not allow employees to use

Boise State master’s degree in educational

technology fortunately focused on technology

-supported problem solving, rather than just

computer skills or educational theory. He is

now in the EdTech doctoral program, so if

anyone can develop the leadership to create

effective training solutions within these con-

straints, he will.

And Hyundai’s system for training em-

ployees worldwide will be a competitive inno-

vation in itself.

Google apps—it is just too easy to upload and

possibly expose proprietary information to

prying eyes.

National regulations regarding personal

privacy, particularly in Europe, prevent Saba

from creating a global learning network be-

cause he cannot access employee personnel

data across national boundaries.

Innovators, like athletes, are not recog-

nized unless they overcome great odds. Saba

may be a little rudder on a big ship, but his

Saba works with a student in a one-on-one oral description activity in an intensive English class at Hongik University. He taught there 7 years before joining Hyundai.

Technology in the Korean academy

It was that very opportunity—more chal-

lenge, more responsibility and a chance for

advancement—that convinced Saba to leave a

comfortable assistant professorship at

Hongik University, Korea’s preeminent art

school whose “eclectic bohemian” students

create a Greenwich Village atmosphere in

northwest neighborhoods of Seoul.

Most instructors at Hongik used technol-

ogy in basic ways, and so did Saba before

joining Boise State’s M.E.T. program. Then,

he says, “My focus changed from content

presentation to interactive uses of technology

for student-centered collaborative learning.”

Anthony, Hyun-Jung, and kids on Jeju Do (Island), a popular tourist destination in Korea. The stone statues are called Hallu-bang, as the style is particular to Jeju Do. They can be found throughout Korea in various styles, including totem-like wooden versions. They are placed at the entrances to villages and homes to pro-tect against evil spirits. They predate Buddhism, but were continued after Buddhism came to the peninsula.

For example, he:

Required his conversational English stu-

dents to create narrated videos of the best

places to go in Seoul, edited them in

iMovie or Windows Media Maker, up-

loaded their video to a YouTube channel,

and then discussed—in English, of

course—each other’s videos.

Assigned them to use ISSUU to create

magazines, which they discussed in class.

Experimented with text-messaging for col-

laboration and communication outside of

class.

Set up Moodle discussion boards so stu-

dents would interact more outside of class

because one of the issues with EFL learn-

ing is that students don’t use English out-

side of the classroom. So, they held discus-

sions in forums online between classes

around various topics.

Created a mobile app to provide class in-

formation, including an RSS feed from dis-

cussion boards in Moodle, which they

could view through the web-app.

Used webquests to make instruction more

interactive and collaborative and blurred,

in fact, the lines between class time and

free time.

His students enjoyed using technology in

their learning but, like students everywhere,

complained that the class required too much

time and effort, particularly outside of class.

His colleagues, on the other hand, ex-

pressed interest in learning more about effec-

tive integration. Most of them are still using

things like paper handouts, textbooks, chalk-

boards, and such. “Ironically,” he says, “Korea

in general and young college students in par-

ticular are very fond of technology and use it

heavily outside of class (or in class) to talk

with their friends, but instructors barely use it

at all.”

In the beginning

In 1998, Saba’s twin sister Mary Ellen con-

vinced him to put work on an earlier master’s

program on hold and go with her to Korea. So,

he committed and on the night before their

departure, she canceled.

Saba went to Korea and three years later, a

friend introduced him to a girl at a party. Her

name was Hyun-Jung Jo (Jo is her family

name) and, after dating awhile, they got mar-

ried—twice, once at home in New York and

once in Korea. Their daughter Rylee is almost

four now and Anthony Jr. is 18 months. He is

just learning to talk, but Rylee is bilingual be-

cause her mother speaks to her primarily in

Anthony and Hyun-Jung at their traditional Korean wedding. They also were married in New York, so American family and friends could attend. A few family members at-tended both ceremonies.

Korean and her father speaks to her in Eng-

lish. “When we are all together, we pretty

much just mix-it-up. It can be quite humor-

ous at times!”

Q&A What do you like to do when you’re not

teaching and being a doc student?

Hmmm. Being a dad! That’s pretty much all

there is time for these days, since I work for 11

hours, study for four and play with the

kids for two or three hours in the evenings.

Weekends, I try to reserve time strictly for my

family. We go to parks and playgrounds, and

hike in the many mountains of Korea.

What do you eat at home, mostly

American or mostly Korean? We mix it

up—a lot of Korean food at home these days

since the kids were born. We are a pretty tra-

ditional family now that I’m working full days

with the wife doing the traditional household

chores. She does make things like pasta, but

often it is some kind of Korean-American fu-

sion dish.

If you eat much American food there,

what do you eat most often? Well, if we

eat American food, whatever that is these

days, we often go to family restaurants like

TGIF or Pizza Hut.

Of Korean food, what do you like the

most? Korean barbeque is my favorite, espe-

cially the beef ribs. I also like many of the rice

dishes and things like kimchi stew. I’m not so

fond of the Korean style seafood, but there are

tons of Japanese restaurants everywhere these

days, so I enjoy eating sushi as well.

Who cooks in your family, you or your

wife? Wife these days. Pretty traditional fam-

ily structure, even though we are not tradi-

tionally minded. I cook breakfast on weekends

—pancakes, French toast, eggs, that sort of

thing.

I think students would like to know

about salaries and costs there.

Salaries are a bit lower than in the United

States, but the taxes are lower and the cost of

living can be lower, depending on lifestyle

choices. Housing can be a bit expensive if you

want something on the scale of what you

might expect in the United States. If you go

native and live in the more typical smaller

apartments, then the cost is not bad. A young

starting teacher at a private institute can make

about $2000 a month with free housing and

plane tickets to Korea and back home, two

weeks of vacation, national holidays, medical

insurance and a one month salary severance

pay at the end of a year contract—all that for

20 hours of instruction per week. University

instructors make around $3200 a month,

sometimes housing is included or subsidized,

medical insurance, and 22 weeks (Yes, 22

weeks) of paid vacation per year with opportu-

nities for extra work during winter and sum-

mer vacations for about 12 hours of instruc-

tion per week. Full professors in a specific do-

main area can expect to make more money,

approximately $6,000 to $8,000 per month.

In a company, the pay can range greatly

depending on the industry, position and

whether or not you are working as a domestic

employee or as an overseas employee.

Did you have to learn Korean when you

went there? No, I didn’t have to learn it. In

fact, many westerners don’t learn Korean be-

yond a superficial level because it is too easy

not to learn, and many Koreans want to speak

with them in English to practice their English

ability. In my first year, I was living alone in a

small country town with nothing to do, so I

spent my evenings studying Korean at home

with textbooks and tapes, and I became quite

good by the end of my first year.

Jerry Foster is an academic adviser in

Boise State’s Department of Educational

Technology, and is editor of EdTech

Connection.